Third Pulse of Salmon at Pilot Station; Run Size “Looking Good”

A third pulse of salmon is currently passing through Pilot Station. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, early fish are expected around Beaver, today.

Holly Carroll is the summer season Yukon Area Management Biologist with ADF&G. She says the salmon run starts with these early fish, which come in before the first big pulse.

That first pulse this season was recorded at Pilot Station early last week. Carroll says for this third pulse, salmon are still coming into the mouth of the Yukon River in Emmonak. “We might be seeing a four-day pulse right now for that third pulse. So, that’s looking good for the run.”

On a Tuesday conference call for the Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association, the ADF&G reported an estimated 83,000 Chinook salmon passing the sonar site at Pilot Station on June 20th. Acting research biologist Sean Larson says that’s above the historical average of 67,000 fish for that date. In addition, summer chum counts were well above historical cumulative data for June 20th: about 608,000 fish were counted. Larson echoes Carroll’s emphasis on a good run so far, saying, “we still have a lot of fish to see, but things are looking pretty good at this point in the season.”

Salmon runs are still expected to meet pre-season outlook ranges, which remain at 130,000 to 175,000 kings and 1.3 to 1.8 million summer chum.